ear its banks, there dwelt
a holy man named Mana Kanaka, who spent a great part of his life
praying to God. He had lost his wife when his only child, a lovely
girl called Kadali-Garbha, was only a few months old. Kadali-Garbha
was a very happy girl, with many friends in the woods round her home,
not children like herself, but wild creatures, who knew she would
not do them any harm. They loved her and she loved them. The birds
were so tame that they would eat out of her hand, and the deer used
to follow her about in the hope of getting the bread she carried in
her pocket for them. Her father taught her all she knew, and that was
a great deal; for she could read quite learned books in the ancient
language of her native land. Better even than what she found out in
those books was what Mana Kanaka told her about the loving God of all
gods who rules the world and all that live in it. Kadali-Garbha also
learnt a great deal through her friendship with wild animals. She knew
where the birds built their nests, where the baby deer were born,
where the squirrels hid their nuts, and what food all the dwellers
in the forest liked best. She helped her father to work in their
garden in which all their own food was grown; and she loved to cook
the fruit and vegetables for Mana Kanaka and herself. Her clothes
were made of the bark of the trees in the forest, which she herself
wove into thin soft material suitable for wearing in a hot climate.

1. What do you think it was which made the animals trust Kadali-Garbha?

2. Could you have been happy in the forest with no other children to
play with?

CHAPTER II

Kadali-Garbha never even thought about other children, because she had
not been used to having them with her. She was just as happy as the
day was long, and never wished for any change. But when she was about
sixteen something happened which quite altered her whole life. One
day her father had gone into the forest to cut wood, and had left
her alone. She had finished tidying the house, and got everything
ready for the midday meal, and was sitting at the door of her home,
reading to herself, with birds fluttering about her head and a pet
doe lying beside her, when she heard the noise of a horse's feet
approaching. She looked up, and there on the other side of the fence
was a very handsome young man seated on a great black horse, which he
had reined up when he caught sight of her. He looked at her without
speaking, and she look